Itzcoatl (TR31r)
This compound glyph for the personal name Itzcoatl ("Obsidian Blade-Serpent") shows a serpent or snake (coatl) in profile, looking toward the viewer's right. Its undulating body is terracotta-orange with a red underbelly. Its eye is open, and the bifurcated tongue protrudes. Along the animal's curving back is a row of nine black, triangular, obsidian blades (itztli), and it has a yellow rattle at the tip of its tail.
Stephanie Wood
The contexualizing image gives the gloss Itzcohuatl (i.e., Itzcoatl). This man, born in 1380, was the fourth ruler of Tenochtitlan and governed from 1427 to 1440. During this time the Aztec Empire began to emerge and the Nahuas overcame the Tepanecs as the dominant rulers.
Stephanie Wood
culebra de navajas
Culebra de Navajas
Stephanie Wood
ca. 1550–1563
Jeff Haskett-Wood
rulers, governantes, imperio azteca, Aztec empire, sobsidiana, piedras, navajas, cuchillos, serpientes, culebras, víboras, serpents, snakes, knives, flints, nombres de hombres, cohuatl
![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Itzcoatl_TR31r_Compound%2CPersName%28male%2Cruler%29.png?itok=iClizUcW)
Itzcoatl, fourteenth ruler of the Mexica
itz(tli), obsidian, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itztli
coa(tl), snake/serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl
Serpiente de Obsidiana, o Navaja-Culebra
Stephanie Wood
Telleriano-Remensis Codex, folio 31 recto, MS Mexicain 385, Gallica digital collection, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8458267s/f87.item.zoom
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![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/Itzcoatl_TR31r_Context.png)